A London police station where the playwright Brendan Behan was once held has been sold to an Irish property developer.
The sale of the Bow Street building and the neighbouring magistrates' court will end the famous street's links with crime and punishment.
Galway-based Edward Holdings will take over the site next summer for an undisclosed sum.
The history of Bow Street dates back to the formation in 1754 of the Bow Street Runners, the model for the world's first modern police force.
The building's cells have also held Oscar Wilde, murderer Dr Hawley H Crippen, wartime traitor William `Lord Haw Haw' Joyce, and the East End gangster Reggie Kray.
Joint owners of the Bow Street site, the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) and the Metropolitan Police Authority today confirmed they had signed a binding contract with Edward Holdings .
It has previously been reported that the company's owner, Gerry Barrett, planned to convert the building into a boutique hotel but a spokeswoman for Edward Holdings declined to comment on current plans.
She said: "Gerry Barrett ... is keen to stress that Bow Street's unique history will be respected during the building's redevelopment.
"Edward Holdings is fully aware of the architectural and historical significance of the buildings in Bow Street and is committed to their sympathetic redevelopment.
"We will be looking at various options for the building over the coming months and undertaking a feasibility study in order to determine the most appropriate way forward.
"Bow Street Police Station has stood empty since 1992, and our aim is to give all the buildings on the site the new lease of life that they clearly deserve."
She added: "Preliminary discussions have already taken place with both English Heritage and Westminster Council regarding the need to take a conservation-based approach to the building's redevelopment.
"Edward Holdings also intends to consult with key local stakeholders before lodging a planning application later this year."
There has been a court at Bow Street since 1740, when Colonel Thomas De Veil sat as a magistrate in his home.
One of his successors, the novelist Henry Fielding, suggested the establishment of the Bow Street Runners. Set up by his brother, John, they were Britain's first paid police force and operated out of the court, helping to keep the peace until Sir Robert Peel established the Metropolitan Police 75 years later.
The current purpose-built police station and court, opposite Covent Garden Opera House, was designed by Sir John Taylor in a Palladian style and was completed in 1881.
The police station has stood empty since 1992.
In 1861, it became the only police station in London to have a white lamp rather than a blue one after Queen Victoria complained it reminded her of the room in which Prince Albert died.
In fiction, Charles Dickens' pickpocket the Artful Dodger was brought before magistrates at Bow Street in the 1839 novel Oliver Twist.
The complex's three courtrooms will operate as normal until next summer while the DCA draw up plans to expand an existing court elsewhere in central London.
The Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer of Thoroton QC, said: "The sale of Bow Street will release further capital to re-invest in our court building programme.
"Financial investment in courts means that we are better able to provide a modern, effective justice system, tailored to meet the needs of the people who use the courts every day."
A DCA spokesman refused to reveal the building's sale price on "commercial confidentiality" grounds.
PA